Boxing

 

Message to the ABC: Please Fortify Your Mandates

By Grey Johnson

Meet Stan Johnson. He is 51 years old, manages fighters in the Milwaukee area, and is probably best known for being Gerald McClellan's trainer. He has also been known to step inside a pro ring once in a while. If you look up his record, you'll notice that he is listed as having a professional record consisting of 3 wins (2 knockouts) and 39 defeats. Of the thirty-five times that he has been knocked out, twenty-four of his losses have occurred in the first round. Also, he has not had a victory in thirteen years.

Considering the obvious lack of effort Mr. Johnson has demonstrated in the ring, why the HECK has the ABC allowed him to fight for so long? His age is bad enough, but his pathetic record makes the situation so much worse. It is a shame that any human being had to pay money to watch Stan participate in such a farce of a fight.

This is where the ABC comes in. If you don't know, the ABC stands for the Association of Boxing Commissions. They are basically the only organization that has any control whatsoever over boxing. One of the jobs that they're in charge of is maintaining a national boxing suspension list. Every state commissioner is supposed to check that list before he allows any proposed fight to be made in his state. If a fighter wants to participate in a state, and he/she is on the suspension list, the commissioner is in charge of enforcing the suspension. Suspensions usually arise when a fighter needs to renew his/her ID card, see a doctor due to an injury suffered in the ring, or get an automatic suspension due to a loss (usually ranging from 1-3 months). For Stan Johnson, it is a different story. Johnson fought in Iowa on September 21, 2001 against journeyman Mike Evans. Not surprisingly, Evans knocked Johnson out in round one. After that fight, this was added to the suspension list:

Johnson, Stan (WI003168) IA 09/20/01 retired by IA

A suspension like this shouldn't be too difficult to comprehend. The state of Iowa retired him, and Johnson was no longer allowed to fight professionally in any of the other forty-nine states.

Alas, this was not so. Somehow, Johnson was able to step in the ring once again. On November 30, 2002, he fought the same exact opponent (Evans) and got the same exact result (ko'd in one round). The next day, this was on the suspension list:

Johnson, Stan (WI003168) IL 11/27/87 retired by IL
Johnson, Stan (WI003168) IA 09/20/01 retired by IA
Johnson, Stan (WI003168) IN 11/30/02 retired by IN

Not surprisingly, Stan earned himself a retirement in Indiana. What was a surprise was that the ABC dug up a suspension that had Johnson retired in Illinois FIFTEEN years ago. Why this suspension wasn't on the list before is a mystery. Why Johnson has had to be retired in three states is equally confusing.

Obviously, somebody wasn't doing their job. Lack of communication between ABC officials is nothing new. Fighters being able to step in a ring while on the suspension list is a practice that takes place almost every single week. To cut the ABC some slack, they have a lot to compete with. Promoters for club shows often have to find fighters to take fights on short notice, so usually they'll find a way for any boxer to be a replacement, regardless if he/she is on the suspension list or not. In this instance, it's a whole bigger issue. The fact that the Indiana commissioner failed to notice that Johnson was retired for over a year is amazing. Being retired is probably the most severe suspension a fighter can get, and rarely does he/she ever find a way to get another fight. Stan was an exception. He didn't have to be, though. Somebody needed to step up and take some notice. The fact that nobody was aware that a 51-year-old man with a 3-39 record was going to fight a 36-11-1 fighter troubles me. The fact that Johnson was able to dodge a retirement suspension for fifteen years bothers me more.

The ABC needs to find a way to stop this from happening. The rules say that a retired fighter is not allowed to fight in all fifty states, but yet they let Stan Johnson break this rule for fifteen years. Stan's last fight may have taken place in a little club in Indiana, but rules are rules. Whether he fights in Las Vegas or in the Ho-Chunk Casino, the rules have to be the same. If some commissioners don't play by the rules, then the suspension list serves no purpose. I'm not against all fighters with losing records, but when a guy of Stan's age gets knocked out that many times, his health should be the top priority. Look at Greg Page. Whether you may or may not believe he should've still been fighting, we almost lost him because a commission demonstrated that they didn't care about any health risks when they decided to break several of the ABC safety rules.

My point is this: The ABC better wake up and realize that they're not doing a single thing for boxing when they don't work together. When so many mismatches occur because commissioners approved them, the fans and the boxers themselves are no longer the top priority. I don't have a problem with Stan Johnson, the trainer, but I'm just angry when he can find a way to still step in a ring and lose. Improving boxing is a long and complicated process, but if commissioners took the time to properly do the tasks that they're responsible for, then maybe we can see boxing move in a more positive direction.

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